Skill: Pincer Grasp

The pincer grasp is the coordination of the index finger and thumb to hold an item. Each time you hold a pen or button your shirt, you’re using the pincer grasp.

Pincer grasp is a hand grasp that develops around the time a baby is 8-10 months old. This grasp corresponds to the time a baby is beginning to feed themselves finger foods. The pincer grasp is needed in order to grasp a small item, pinch it between the index and thumb and bring it to the mouth.

Sorting Buttons

For this activity, you will need a number of small containers, depending on the sorting criteria you chose, and an assortment of buttons (i.e. size, color, number of holes on the button).

Place the buttons on a plate or in a larger container. place the small containers in front of the child as well. Allow the child to sort the buttons by size, color, number of holes, etc.

As the child picks up each button, encourage him to use his thumb and pointer fingers to help with developing pincer grasp.

To work on thumb opposition, ask the child to pick up each button with his thumb and middle finger, thumb and ring finger or thumb, and pinkie.

Cut Me a Tree

For this activity, you will need to use brown and green construction paper. 

Have the child trace your hand on the green paper, then trace one or two of their own. On the brown paper, ask the child to draw a large rectangle (depending on the child’s developmental skills, you might have him trace or copy the rectangle). Let the child cut the traced hands and rectangle he drew. 

On a large piece of construction paper, have the child glue the large hand on the rectangle, fingers pointing down, then the other hands, fingers pointing down as well (for a blooming tree, have the child glue the traced hands with the fingers pointing up). Using colored foam sheets, let the child draw and cut other shapes, then glue them on the tree as ornaments or flowers. To promote pincer grasp, have the child use the stickers for additional decorations.

Marshmallow Stamper

Place paint in a shallow bowl or a paper plate. Have the child dip a piece of marshmallow or foam in the paint and stamp it onto the construction paper.

You can let the child create his own picture or if you would like to work on visual-motor skills, you can have the child trace lines, shapes, and letters.

You can use small or big marshmallow for this activity.

For children that tend to place objects in their mouths, you might want to try using Jell-O mixed with a small amount of water and use it as your paint.

TP Roll Snake

Pull open the TP roll all the way.

Provide the child with paint and a brush and instruct him to paint it. You can also choose markers or crayons to color the snake.

Once dry, you can have the child use Q-tips to paint the snake, or crumble little pieces of tissue paper, and/or use stickers.

Depending on the child developmental skills, either cut a snake’s tongue out of red construction paper or have him cut it himself.

Finally, the child can glue the tongue and the wiggly eyes on one end of the TP roll. If you don’t have wiggly eyes in hand, you can use small buttons.

Recycled Jug Catcher

For this activity, an adult’s help and supervision are required.

Use a plastic milk container with a handle. Wash the container thoroughly and let dry.

Using a permanent marker, draw a line all the way around the container, about 2 inches up from the bottom. Depending on the child’s developmental skills, ask the child to cut around the line you drew, leaving the handle intact. You may want to help the child at this point and protect from sharp edges. Once you removed the bottom of the container, use the tape to cover the jug’s edges.

Provide the child with different stickers and allow him to decorate the jug to promote pincer grasp. You can also use colored masking tape or paper scraps to decorate your jug.

Take the newspaper and ask the child to ripe large pieces of paper and roll them into balls. Encourage the child to use both hands to ripe and roll the pieces of paper.

Once the jug and the newspaper balls are ready, let the child chose if he wants to first be the pitcher or the catcher. Stand away from each other and have the child either throw the balls into the jug or use the jug to catch the balls you throw. Exchange roles after all the balls are in the jug.